The Sun. — London, England, 1809-03-14 00:00:00

ate prolonged debates that so closely followed each other. Should circumstances demand a continua tinn of discussion for the whole of this Week, the evil would be very serious. ' In tha! case, it would °perhaps be advisable to make a break ; and if the discussion - should not be completed on to-morrow night, to adjourn over Woonesday,'in order to give a pause to the Members, and to enable them to re turn with recruited faculties of body and mind to the discussion and ultiMate decision of this most important preeeeding. Lord FoaaatoNiu'a motion was then agreed to. , On the motion for reading the Order of the Day, for resuming the Debate on the cOudua of his Royal Highness the Duke of York, ' Mr. Coawaa rose, and produced a letter, which he bad received 'from' an honourable'Offieer (Capt. Sledding), to' whose ellarader- he bOre the highest testimony. With the permission of the House he would . read this letter. The Hon. Member was proceeding to read• Capt. Speddi(ig's letter, when he was, interrupted by Mr. who obseryed, that it had al ready been decided in the course of this proceeding,' that to read a letter in the way intended by the Hon: Gentleman was drsorderly. The SEBAKEIt observed, that unquestionably no letter of the sort alluded to could be read, except by Abe indulgaiwe of the House. Mr. CUR-waN stated, that the (Neal of the letter was to declare, that Captain Spedding kneknoaany thing of the , tiamsadious' imputed ab him, and that if any sueh ; hrid occurred, they were attributable to his agent, and not to hit - itself. That Capt. Sped ding was one of the last men' who would be guilty of any ataion in the least degree dishonourable he was perfectly persuaded, ° and he appealed to. : bis Hon. Colleague for his, opinion on the subject. Mr. WALLACE declared the high estimation in which be held Capt. Speddtag's charader. The Order of the Day was then read ; and the Speaker having explained the state of the question, the Debate proceeded. The first Methber who ad dressed the Chair waaa-- . , • The SECIA atma at WAR., He observed, that be rose to •oppose the• address proposed by the Hon. Gentlethan opposite a (Mi.' Bankes), who had de clared, that although no charge of corruption bad been established against his Royal Highne4s the Duke of York,, yet that the House had :been just put in possesion of fads sufficient to induce them to believe, that his Royal Highness must have en tertained a suspicion of the abuses that - existed ; and consequently qiat it was their duty to agree to a pro position, the tendency of which was, to deprive him Of the COmmaild of the army„ In delivering his Sen timents on this subject, he felt his task considerably lightened 'by the, conviction that a great majority of that House were persuaded that no reliance Whatever was to be placed on the testimony Of Mrs. Clarke. At least; such was his understanding of' the opinion of 'the greater part of those whom he had the honour ..to address. If it: were not so, if the testimony of it Its. Clarke were to be credited, there cauld be no guastion but that his Royal Highness muss be imme diately condemned ;, but he was tirtilly.of opinion, that in the most material parts of herevidence, Mrs. .Clarke was disbelieved by a great 'majority of that House ; and under such Cirs:ULDRLIFICeB, he could riot but think, that what she had asserted 'ought to be put wholly out of their consileratien: • In his opinion, there was not 'on r e of thecases that had been adduced in which Mrs. Clarke'had;,not-direOly con tradieted herself.. The Hon. Gentlemen on -the other side maintained two opinions, either that the Duke of -York had himself been guilty of corrupt pradicee, or that the circumstances Were so glaring, that it was °impossible-'but he must have suspected their existence in others. Both these positions he completely deniQd, and he trusted that the House WOW& pernuadbd his denial was not,founderl on light grounds. To chew that it was not so, he' Would enter into an examilvtion of the voriouscases that had been brought forward. And filar, with respela to that of the exchange between Colonel lirooke and Colonel Knight. It was evident in this instance, that Mrs. Clarke's objea was to procure tnoney, by pretending that the gazetting of that ex. , change Was ascribable to her infleeme alone. Brit she had evinced an ignorance of the usual course of of such proceedings, which in ins mind was the strongestproof that the communications bet Ween her and his. Royal Highnesk on milittusubjeds were far from being -as unreserved as she pretended. Mrs. Clarke observed, that she had made' the application' to the Duke_ of York two or.- three days before the exchange was notified in the Gazette. Now, it was well known to. those who were conversant with the details of military office, that a much longer lime must elapse after the approbation of the Com- , mander in Chief was expressed deny transaction of that nature before it could be so declared to the pub-, lie. This ignorance on-the part of Mrs. Clarke was by no means reconcilable with the profession that, she possessed that undue influence over his Royal Highness which had been ascribed to her, _ fOr, in that ease, would she not have made it her business to 'ender herself perfe&ly CAtiversant in all.those forms and details of office by winch her objects would have been forwarded ? took this opportunity, as ohe was speaking of Official business, to defend Col.. -Vordon from the imputation of want 9f candour, which had been thrown upon him from the oppo site side of the House ; and explained, in a very sa tisfactory manner, the evidence which Col. Gordon gave' at the Bar, with respect .to the usual course of military exchanges andpreeaOtions.Proceeding with his consideration of the cafes which had been inves tigated, he adverted next to that of Col.French'.B IeVY. it had been erroneously declared that the expence of that levy had been enormous, .amounting to near an hundred and fifty pounds.a matt; but the papers on the table undeniably - proved that the expence was only something more than forty ponnds a man. Entering into an explanation of this transaction, he *hewed that it was conformable to' the usual prac tice ; and that the permission which Colonellirenelf obtained, resulted from , pure Motives on the part. of 114 Royal Highness. • He himself fully recolleded a Conversation au this very levy, and hi was persuad at chat his Royal'Highness the Commander in bad acceded to it because he thought it an advert. „tilw:ous bargain fur' the Public. The very stopping: of the levy was a convincing proof thatMrs.Clarke did nct'po4sess the influence to which site pretend ; for it was interest that it should be eanti Itted, if, aS she,: `,-- she was to receive a guinea for ever' matt th'. 'as raised. Ever . 61:cumitanco allutdeJ proof cat theabsence of commonication be? tweet) the Duke of York and. Mrs. Clarke en mili tary matters; and none more so than the promotion •Of Major Tonyn. That promotion aanally took place on the 9th Of August, hut was not Gazette,d till the lath, during the whole of which interval : Mrs. Clarkewas ignorant that Captain Tonyn had obtain ed his:MajOrity, an ignorance which shetuanilested by her solicitude. Was it to be believed hat Monett kcase, threatened as she washy Captain Satiden; that he would withdraw the promise of the .500 l.; that if she possessed the influence ascribed to her, she would not have questioned the Dtike of York on the subjeCi ? - And was it not probable that his RoVal Highness's answer .would have been " Major Tonyn is a6tually made, and will be Gazetted on Sa• turday or Tuesday next ?" But she,slid not venture on •-Such an inquiry, and Captain 'Tony') was ac= tuallY a Major for several day's before Mrs. Clarke, interested as she was in Thetransaetioo, was apprised of it. A more convincing proof than this of the lit, tle communication that piisted between the Corn milder in Chief and Mrs. Clarke, he could not well conceive.' As to the case of Colonel Shawe, nothing could be more clear. Colonel Shawe had obtained hys appointrmint in the usual way,, and with the un derstanding that'he was immediately to go on ball- . pay. It was impossible, therefore, to believe that his Royal Highness, to revenge the to trrel of Mrs. Clarke, should order Colonel Shawe to be put upon half-pay ; well khowing, as he must have done, that such was the original ceridition of Col. -Sliawe's appointment. :Much had been said 'with respetho the mode in which Major Turner's promotion had been stopped., With 'respect to the character of the Ornate, by. whom that delay was occasioned, it, appeared to him of little consequence, and that it was unfair to, assign that as a cause why justice ought Snot to be done. Considering the question in this point of view; he-confessed that' he felt asto nished at the . Ohservationa that had been made, and at the questions that had been put to Colonel Gordon upon it. • Proceeding to thtt case'of Mr. Dowler, he observed, that -it- had already been so ably haudled, • that he did not feel it necessary tolrespass upon the 'time of the House longer than to observ'e, that it was impossible that could be made a Matter . of grave accusation against his Royal' Highness.' As to SaMuel Carter, it was most prabable that he would have bad his commission without any. interference on the part of Mrs. Clarke. He could not help olnerving, by the way, that this was the only instance adduced of Mrs. Clarke's successfully ex erting her influence for the obtaining of an En sigitcy, although it could not but be evident that there were mans; individuals who would have been very happy to have given her-two or three hundred pounds for het recommendation. So far from her influence having been notorious, he contended, that this fact proved the very reverse. A Very exaggerated 'state ment had been made of the k pxpencti attendant' on Mrs. Clarke's establishment, which was trivlal, com pared with what it had been asserted to have been. On a general review of the whole circumstances of the case, lie Could not perceive that there were any . just grounds td induce the House to agree to a pro position, the teniteney 'of which was, to removefrom the command of the army an Illustrious to whoie exertions the army and the country were eminently iiiilehted, His Royalkii&hnews the Duke of York assumed the command 01 that army at 'a period when, aftlr a long peace; it was in the worst possible state, and required a complete and radical reform. That reform his Royal Highnesi had under taken ; in that reform , he had complet e ly succee d e d ; he had made the Briti'shartry "what it wa s o 4 p resen t ; he had made it equal, I n point of itharacter and dis cipline,-• to !..13 k of any military power Europe.—.. With the ut most 'attention to the arrangements ne cessary for the improvement of our military force, his Royal Highness-had combined the utmost atten tion to the comfOrt and convenience of the Of whom that farce was composed. Oh such grounds as those which had.been adduced, grounds,. which to him appeared completely insufficient, he could never believe.that the House of Commons would consent to a motion that: would eventually tend to dismiss from his. high office the Illustrious s: Individual to whom, in his opinion; the public wa , so deeply indebted. Sir FRANCIS Btrancir rose to perform a duty, which might well be called a painfUl one, but which it still behoved him, as a Member of that House, and a judge upon so important an occasion, to fulfill. Atter the able and ample manner in which the evidence had been goee through, and detailed on both sides, it:would be wrong in him teadd to the time already spent in discUssion, by repeating it in a more imperfect manner.. All he had to do was to state the result, and the groUnds for his decision upon the question. Before doing this, however, he could not help making some otiservations on the extra ' ordinary mode of . conduct .puratted towards the Honourable Gentleman who brought forward these 'charges. The Chancellor of th e E xc h equer, a public officer, and the Attorney.:General, the ptib. lic accuser, instead of being engaged, as it was natural to suppose they would have been, upon the side of the public, were arrayed on the side of the party accused—were arrayed on the i .aide of the party accused, not Mutely as Members of the House ofCommons,,doing justice to all, but es men sbewing minds skit to conyidion on the side which they had espouied—Wry of order, order With respect to the Hon. Gentleman•who brought forward these charges, it had been said by another Honourable Gentlema n on the floor, that he had put to sea in a small skirt, braving the winds anti waves. For his part, he slid not inquire into the size of his: vessel; but this he could say, that hs bad steered by the polar star of truth,which had guided him through every difficulty and danger. Another Right Hon. Gentleman had threatened him with the alternative of infamy. He had said that infamy must fall some where. He trusted; that at the present stage of the business, and after hearing the evidence, which it. had been in vain tried to do away, no discredit could be' attempted to be att , ched to the flonoutable : Mover of this question. He left then the charge of infamy to the Right Hon. Gentleman who made it, and it he knew . not where to pliceit, it must test upon his own shoulders. He had now to notice, the defence set up by the Bight Hon. Gentleman Which appeared to him so utwandid, that not as a judge delivering his opinion upon a case ) , but evtn . as an advocate hired ,to defend a side, it was to un fair it would have done him little credit. In his opinion, upon the evidence of Mrs. Clarke he stood albite, and wateste . blinded to one stee, thatliis sen timents could 'have little weight with, the House . , }4e could not see the Plainest objeds in the broadest ! i dayslight, when they militated against his cause, but was able to discern the most minute . specks in.: the dark, when they'appeared to make for him.; But the 'attempts to do away the evideece of Mrs. Clarke were in vain., After telong examination, con tinued for successive , hours, tracing her from her cradle to the moment She was before them, nothing • Could be made out against her. • They saw; the worst of her a p t first, and cia every succeeding occasion, she Made impressions of a very different nature, and rose in their estimation. What could hsve supported, her in these continued examinationa ? Nothing but that her story was simply founded in truth., All the lawyers who examined her, fur hour after hour, had been foiled ; and the Attorney-General, with all his labours, could not succeed in obtaining any thing to her prejudice. But to obViate this consist- envy, she was now to be called a most extraordi- nary genius, reconciliog every point into perfect order, -and- he would say, that she would have been a most extraordinary genius indeed, she could have got up such a drama as this. ,He believed Mrs. Clarke Was:as competent' to write Macbeth as to accOmplish such an achievement; unfortunately, in the present case, very little depended on her. She was the connecting link, and the only.evidence the nature of the circumstance admitted of. The money, no one would contend, could have been paid inn:vale hands of the Duke of York; and the, only thing they had to loOk to was, whether there were grounds for an opinion that his Royal Highness had reason to be aware of its being paid at all. To the shame of the Dultii. of York, lie must confess that I such was his conviction. The Right - Hon, Gentle man Had began his speech by laying down such Lair`'' and candid premises, that they must hare expe6ted a very different seperstrudure from'that which he ereded,,. He had drawn no right conclusioe ; be had asserted that Mrs. Clarke was not to be be lievedeand he had declared to be unworthy of credit the unimpeachable testimony of Miss Taylor, by • whom she was corroborated. Mrs. Clarke's contra- Miens were alleged as proofs of her being unwor thy of belief, but.there was no disctedit on earth in the testimony of Miss Taylor, but the surmises and suspicions of the Right Hon. Gentlemen. 'The very contradidions of Mrs: Clarke were a proof that she had entered into no conspiracy, which if she had, .they would have been guarded against. If they had conspired against the Duke of York, they, must in deed have been the boldest women upon earth. It was 'argued again, that the words to which' Miss Taylor spoke meant nothing ; but ode part of his argument overturned the - other. For, if the stories' did not hold together wit hone the invention of these words, it was surely the silliest thing in the world to forge what had no meaning, and would not bear them lint. All then that the Right Honourable Gentleman did, was ingeniously to invent hypo theses, and surmise on surmise, of what Ought to have been done or what might have beentione, leer sing out all that they had to' round their judgment upon -•--the evidence. The Hen, Gent. who proposed an athendment, had followed different and more rational 'course, for he had , given Op what st un tenable to gain his point, and left it tie( he Chancellor of the Exeneouer, who was the only.man withal the walls of the House, to say that Mrs. Clarke bad no influence over the Duke of Yolk. A Learned Judge who, sneke early in the debate (Mr. Burton), had also toed to destroy Mrs. Clarke's evidence; 'but after Saying she was guilty of twenty-eight contra (haloes, nothing was produced against her but her situation to life. Nothing more could be done; and the House must consider that as the extent of the impeachment of her credibility, when they recol lected with what acrimony and injusticethe slightest subjects had been seized, whereon to chew that she had been guilty of .contradictions. There was an essential ditferenue bet weee ,Contradiating other wit nesses and contraditting herself ; the latter was a diredt'falsehood, while, in the' former,' such as in- the contradiction bet Ween. Mrs. Clarke and , Mr. Knight, on a Matter of ,recollpetion at the distance of tour y ears , th e one was, as positive and as likely to ebe correct as the other. AlittitTaylor was also to he' impeached, because she did not know her father" ; wvut by, the ,name of, Chance, although her's was the most complete evidence to be had on this otca- : aion. The Right Honourable Gentiemantbad alsce gone through the ether cases, always putting aside the eVidenee, and building on' his' own conjectures.= The Aitoroey-General too, 'to whom, from :bite great opinion of his legal knowledge, hp had liatened' with ',extreme attendee; expecting at -every turn some luminous point; had followed the same course' with'still less success. He'.seetned quite stunned by: the badness of his cause, and reminded hitu of .a story told of Cennsellor DUnniege Who/ on behig applied to to recommend the parties in a latue action to an Advocate, told them' trechuse the most stupid Counsel in Court ; for, said he, if you employ an able man be will-get puzzled and confounded with the arguments against yeti, which he will never be able to surmount ; but it you chutes a stupid fellow he will not see these things, but go nonndering , qa, saying a great deal, w hi c h w ill give . his speech the appearance of a'good deal of reasoning on your aide. Thus the Attorney-General appeared as tette:: weight of 'the evidence had sunk him to the earth. Atter turning round and round, and distorting- himself in every way; he gave it up, and like Christian, iu the Pilgrim's TrogreSs, left hitnielf and the Duke of York 'sticking fast in the Slough of De spend, e from which all. the Anti e lecotnes in the Kingdom could net drag him. . In the end,' he toad flewn to' the lase refuge in et bad cause, and made an appeal to the. Judges, which, with the weakness of his preceding arguments, strengthed the impression on his (Sir Francis's) mind, that the cause of the Duke of York was indefensible against the body of evidence produced. The Right . Honourable Mem ber for CaMbridgeshire (Mr. Yorke) had given up one part to save another, but there seemed some- thing very strange in itis continuing to ded4t the au thenticity of the note in the case of Majoi - runyn, after it was proved by the . hest evidence that cuulti be adduced, and not. disproved by the curious evi dence of Clerks, afterwards called. Atter this, he knew not.how to convince his trkind„ or alter Lk opinion ot: the testimony of Oat vioritan, w horn he 'ad: denominated a " harpP This barley had ttnued out more virtnowt thinj could have been cit.. - betted, for she had not turneift her talytts to het own OtCol.l,ilt I 3tlV had malt, pfiyli'vtut,! for livri`eif; bat, 'with the money raised by iter trarfic in Coat: initiSiOnS, she had paid the trad6people's bills, alien with what she teazed out , of the Duke of 'York, shti had paid the servants their wages. To the s tuation in which she' came to the Bar, he ,coodeirined the manner ih which advantage i had been take.) of her. If there was no truth .in - her; she hid at ;east the property of eliciting - truth twin others; acid, like flint when she came in collisioo with them, alWays brought something_ to light. It might be legal to say, that from the nature of such a, testimony as Sang den's, and others, hothi`og he or they said - Was to be belleved ; but, lil Lis opinion, they were rattier , to be conSidered its being nearer the truth, troM their wish to conceal the facts they were coinpelleti to dis 7 close. Mrs. Clarke would not have dared In ati is the way she did unless her 'evidence was true. She durst not have told them that Donovitti was likely tti deny a fact, which he accordingly did deny, .tiit was extracted from him, unless . she was convinced of her reelitude. Let them then. do justice on all sides, our condemn to tiiScredit a eoesistent witness. Potting thepoSitive evidence out of the question, the circumstantial was so strong, that it would convict any man in an ordinary case: But men.some how or other always Seetned 'to losr their abilities in that House. The Attortiey-General. *.'',ls so asto7 niched in his examination, that he thought he hail got a witch at the Bar, and conceived it nothing that his Royal Highness theDakeot York bad b e en enslaved by such an enchantress. T ru th to a law yer was like a red rag to a v iper ; It extracted all the poison from his tooth. It was painfel r°saY that the Duke of York's honour w as pledged against th is evi dence. Were they to declar e that rank, or even cha raaer was to balance all that they had heard ?—they .could not do so. - Mrs. Clarke's evidence wa s fair and Just when compared with any thingithey had befo re them. Col. Gordon's had peen called very able: for his part, he had no idea of evidence, but true or fal se. Did they who gave it this commendation mean that it was entitled. to admiration because it was de " trues ? He dal not mean to 'say it Was so ; but atter. the first mistake into which Col. Gordon had fallen, he had ever after given his test anony li ke a Jar - . chant's account; with " arruts excepted." It wasthe grand stalking h orse o f the cause, and the regularity of the,othce was to answer every - thing, thoueli Mrs. Clarke had told them - that, she only recontmended the parties to promotion, and that their business Wag done alter the regular manlier. They now came to some case, where the - evidence of Mrs. Clark e had nothing to do, The case of O'Mara was shuffle d over by the Right Hon. Chan c ell o r o f the-Exchequer) be rause it wak not a military o ne. 'To his mind it Was so much the worse. Flow could he preach a' atiost vice, . tintirerality, and deadly sins \Vhat dreadful hypocrisy this must be. It tee Rialit Hirai Gentle man Chancellor of the EXchequer) had foll owed the example of the t Right. Honourable Uentlernaa .on the floor (Mr. Batikes),-they might have beau spared their now painful duty of giving op i " afion upon this charge,, which was of as beav) o l nature as the mind of man could conceive. SnaWiti case they had seeenedlo think nothing at ail. The ;Right Honourable Gentleman troll) professiooal habits had taken up an argawe nt °I 4 . novel kind that it could ant be t h e case, but ttier's Was Major ShaWe'S letter, which / d ove ,' jos seas: and . the general feeling 'ot the army u;,on the %ion. 'lt W.ls singular tl,.ir whit, oaerioolOng important cases the lioa. iar'-aidearan tour ' ll l lc. - pains with the evidence of Fav e ry, The , Gentleman who-bteugtit forward I l:-Jse OstitgeS had not even mentioned tier name ; ilial to-. Jim pieceedingsr, i in this respect only evinced how anich •liey 'resisted on one of these little miserable pcantg•Witicit: Could not .atfeet the general queaioo. Here 1.0 Hon. .Baratiet Cornrhentect on the evidenae by Mr. Adam, and co nte n ded that the t.„'ilanc, thn 'Exchequer, in ende ai-ouri ng to ovia-t ar , LK: tea.. Outcast of. Mrs... Clarke, had left 4;i tits other ..ut. , t e vidence untouched and unsouchaeie. then adverted' to the case of Major 'Punier, and • re marked, on. Mrs. Sutherland's asking it as a mere trifle of the .Commander in Chief, not to comPli, with his manorial. It was ruinous to the army ,i 1 such pradices were allowed to exist as to stop the progress of an excellent . Officer, because a wont represented him as haVing behaved ill to another. Tha etrett it had on Major Turner's mind was cleor, from the letter of indignation it gave rise e which.he almost threatened to expose the Duk 0 York. But what military law was broken ? Wb at article of war was violated, by thus behavinglin 11) lni• a lady ? How had the Duke of York behaved to A Clarke ? *After living with her in excessive fond' ties , , Without any cause, he could throw her 0'1%4 an old shoe, with infamy and disgrace. Wha t 1611 ,, messageof was it that he sent to her by Eliex,s°,:l - (Taylor the Morocco Ambassador), who, to not been true, might have been called' to the n' r rebut it ? Who, , that had a heart, would have Jett: the woman that had lived' under his proteatea, "., debt. Against the testimony of such a woa4ll/j. they had the honour of a Prince. His royal or had also been given for an annuity to her, to PaY her debts, and then he could resist the PaY ln r - i t , • and_ _say there - -is no. bond, no legal demand i gredients in the honour of a Prince as there was honour for it. If there were thc fin '" ot iik• wan, if truth and justice were t in e xiled 1.111"3 more wOrtliless pledge never was ptudoced, should not weigh as a teather in the scale. 1.11 1 , 1 ' e e . a of Kennett Was • another 91' corruption, Bankrupt of infamous ChalliatCr was 10 be " C ", ro i mended to a situation übtler GOvertu nel4 ' bec " ' fbe he was raising it ItraO for the Duke of York' ,;, of oar . t a Hight Honourable the Cl ifo i ce ilor ot quer had saidthat this was an age the least col,iird of apy in the history' of his country.' H~ rem seeme4 to,. think it a golden agta—a Par' dile if et y gained. B ut lie had lost' to his view, that 0 , thing led to Corruption, that the b ur dens 91' like. e tiro-edged award, redueed men to pa ver i .j e and exposed them t 9 be seduced by briber.V. kora argued that there was no Corruption , b was hone tif diet base, open, daligerous hi lad in korner days used to put ti,e hunch..cc! 011.1 10 into i INleniher's hand - in the lobby, or o -tc ,. /. ,.„ 0 t der the name plate. when he d•oed with the Seaer. 11 0 ""'" t . v ; that_ men now blinked, arid took p it k unpunislied,.or rila "Aber d :Vs. When Geatlemen acquitted the of Otlice Emolument; and in r, lac Y.-1 -1, ; (it corruption, - because he took DO ITI0P('1 0 ; tal. , consider that corruption -ladatothills du e ,ih inotaey, but was to be tbund in the .had" . ! motive fora uicrn.--undue influence swaylog the Miria